Monday, September 04, 2006

When is a doily not a doily?

When it has religious aspirations and becomes an altar cloth.

Here, friends, is my little home altar.

It's an Indonesian chest I found in a shop in the neighborhood. I liked it because a) the brass bits to the right and left of the lock escutcheon resemble Dharma wheels and b) it was reduced for quick sale.

On it, left to right, are a bowl gong and striker, the Buddha, a figure of Kannon (the embodiment of compassion), an incense burner and (in the back, peeking around the burner) a Daruma doll dedicated to the completion of a certain task which for now shall remain unspoken.

The whole of this is tucked into a niche I created by shifting one of my bookcases to another part of the living room. On the wall, I hang Japanese scrolls that change about every month or so.

When I'd finally hunted down the bowl gong and checked off all the items on my wish list, I decided I needed one more thing. Something of my own, something I'd made. I considered casting a figure of Manjushri, the Bodhisattva of Clear Thinking, but it turns out the terms of my lease prohibit iron smelting. So I decided to knit an altar cloth.

I could build a fort in the middle of the living room with all the stitch dictionaries on my shelves, but ultimately the pattern I chose was from that nice Cheryl Oberle's Folk Shawls. In my stash there was most of the skein of Dale Baby Ull that made Istvan's paws, and when I swatched it using the motif Cheryl cooked up for the Kimono Shawl I knew I had a winner.

This was a fun knit. The pattern is very simple, and after one full repeat I worked from memory. The fabric flowed off the needles.

(In the background, please to admire the lovely stitch marker, one of a pair made and given to me by the one and only Rabbitch.)

The cloth conveniently reached its full extent as the skein ran out, and I was left with the usual shriveled fungus that is unblocked lace.

After stretching it until it screamed for mercy, I have an altar cloth that is almost what I wanted.

The stitch pattern and yarn, I like.

If you want to try lace but it scares you, give the Kimono Shawl a try. This motif is only about eight stitches by fifteen rows or so. In return for rather easy work you get a striking fabric with interest not only from the yarn overs, but also from the texture lent by the lines of the increases and decreases. Lotta bang for your buck.

What makes me grit my teeth in a most un-Zenlike fashion is those frigging wavy edges. I'm not an experienced blocker and I couldn't figure out how to pin out a good rectangle. I'll have another go after I've done some research.

Or maybe I'll just tell people I wanted it to look like that.

Sleeping in the Zendo

While we're on the subject of Zen practice, Ted asked (twice) what happens if somebody falls asleep during a round of meditation in the zendo.

I'm still new at this, so I can only tell you what I've experienced.

The first is: nothing. We actually had somebody nod off during a Sunday sitting a couple of weeks ago and start to snore gently. This went on for a minute or so and then the fellow woke himself up. One of the clever things about the standard zazen postures is that they are inherently stable: you can drift off and not topple over immediately.

Or, it may be (I've also seen this) that the monitor, who faces the room and keeps things on course, will go over and give the sleeper a gentle shake.

That's it. Nothing too dramatic. There's an old saw about Zen practioners being smacked with a stick when they doze off. Not true. There's a stick, yes–it's called the kyosaku–but (contrary to popular belief) it's not used in a punitive fashion.

I prefer to save that kind of thing for other occasions, thank you very much.

Hi FranklinYippee! You're back. The altar looks great. Would it be terribly irreverent to suggest knitting a robe for one of your figures for cold winter days? I'm a Jesusy person, but I can be pretty irreverent about him too. Somebody once gave me a statue of Jesus as a thank-you gift. That sort of thing isn't really my taste, but the Jesus was so exuberant (and not placid and, well, flaccid as Jesus tends to be portrayed) that I was often moved by the figure. Some days, he held a tiny umbrella. Don't ask me why. I just started my own blog this week. Sure is fun!

Have you seen the Tibetan movie "Phörpa" (aka The Cup)? Lots of irreverant monks-in-training who regularly fall asleep during practice, so if they can do it then really no worries, right? And they're mostly short and bald - do you reckon they knit?

I've recently used the string blocking method with great success - although I couldn't find any string about the house, so I improvised - I had some DK weight cotton yarn left over from a project. That worked fine. You can also buy blocking wires, or the hardware equivalent - stainless steel welding wires.

The altar cloth looks lovely, but would look even lovelier with straight edges :-)

I love the cloth. I was going to suggest blocking wires, but, now, I'm thinking of trying the string method on my current mass of lace (which isn't photographed anywhere, since it's supposed to be a surprise for the recipient).

It's so great to see someone who can learn things by reading, but not do it without heart. I've never seen someone who is so devoted to learning through books and can put soul and exuberance into his work. Very nicely done with the lace and thanks for sharing your personal altar space.

Hi Franklin - I just discovered your blog. I have to say I love it, especially delores. I am hinting to Tuffers that I would like a sassy delores t-shirt (and an ichy lamb one.) Your so cute and funny. Cheers!

Love the lace alter cloth! Instead of blocking wires, for achieving smooth lace edges I've used small-diameter (like 2s) metal dpns. I weave the needle in and out every 2 stitches or so, using T pins at the ends of the needles to align and hold the lace out. Works great!

Ahh-So I wondered about your daruma. I couldn't tell if he had both eyes filled in or not. (You know, two eyes finished means wish granted....) I'm still looking for a buddha that has the right "feel" for me (and fits in the budget!), but have some lovely kwanyin who are quite lovely and powerful.

Anyway, I love the altar cloth. What they all said about string is what I was going to say. I had some thin nylon twine around the house that I used to block my Branching Out scarf last winter. The nylon is very strong for the weight, holds up under tension, and is easy to pull out when you're done with blocking.

I had heard an internet rumor that welding rods work in place of blocking wires for a fraction of the cost. I went to Farm and Fleet and looked at welding rods and the ones they had were nothing I want to put in my knitting edges: greasy and covered with some stuff that promotes better burning and melting.

you know the ten ox herding pictues? at my thrift store; i found (read was gifted with) a small stature of 6: Riding Home. i also have the Lady of Mercy, a madonna, daruma; puss n boots from Shrek,a "smallprize o matic", which is a tiny claw machine which my kids gave me...long list; but not a lovely wavy edged hand made cloth, just some cat's hair. LOLmay one ask? what's on the card, eh?

I love your perfect touch of the lacy cloth! For pointy lace, I pin out the points, and with straight edged lace, I thread the blocking wires (or string) through the edges on each side, and if there are any other obvious straight lines elsewhere in the piece, I do it there as well. I am increasingly using a grid underneath the blocking lace to keep the lines straight while I stretch the piece out. You have ome a very long way in the past year in knitting and spinning! Congratulations!

In general whenever I have gotten myself into a quiet, meditative place for any length of time I have tended to fall asleep -- unless I am doing something with my hands and/or feet such as spinning or knitting. Perhaps I just need further enlightenment and/or whacking.

Hey - the lace is absolutely beautiful, as is the altar atop it. Wanna share with a fellow Chicago knitter where you got that fabulous table? :) Thank you so much for your blog - it inspired me to start one of my own! Love from Lakeview...

Franklyn - you just might fit a baby mokugyo on there: http://www.dharma.net/monstore/product_info.php?cPath=21_37&products_id=495

I like the wavy edges! Think of it as sand being washed on the shore. Also nothing wrong with having more than one cloth!

When I started Zen I was in a combined Soto/Rinzai group and the old saw about Kyosaku and nodding off was not an old saw at all - you snoozed, you could get bapped. But, that was 25 years ago and enough people with heart condtions attended sesshins and complained - so that monks were told to curb their enthusiasm. A monk could still blast out a tatami-rattling "WAKE UP" though. Worked well.

I have to confess, the first thing I thought of when Ted asked what happens when one falls asleep was that monk in the movie The Cup -- which, BTW was recently released on DVD.

The director, Khyentse Norbu, is a Buddhist teacher, and is recognized as the reincarnation of a 19th C. Buddhist saint.

He's also had a more recent film out (2003) -- called "Travellers and Magicians", which is an inventive telling of a traditional Buddhist fable. http://www.travellersandmagicians.com/ for more info on that.

The Making-Of for that film was really...um...enlightening about this most unusual and highly talented director.

Lovely altar, BTW. I aspire to having an altar, just as soon as I can move enough of the stash.

OK, thought I knew all about blocking, but the string thing is new to me. So I get my dental floss or whatever woven along the edge -- then what? tie it to pins at the end, kinda like an old-fashioned canvas stretcher for people? Surely the mere presence of string is not enough to cause a straight edge?

I love it...perfect accompaniment...you’re so clever! I really like that space. It somehow makes the rest of the room quite peaceful! You’re an amazing knitter. You decide to learn/do something...and voila — done! Impressive!

I block with fairly high-test fishing line. It's stiff enough to thread through the edge without a needle, although sometimes if the tip catches I melt a little ball-point on the end over the stove (with lace nowhere in sight, of course!)

I pass the line in and out as frequently as possible (i.e., every stitch in large-gauge knitting, every couple in the finer stuff) and as near the edge as possible.

Using a length a bit longer than each side of my blocking space (and hopefully longer than the finished lace) I tie a loop in each end and pin the line taut. Distribute the knitting evenly along the length of the line. A few pins along the length keep the line from bowing in toward the centre.

A word about the Kimono shawl pattern: I think it probably looks best in a smooth yarn. I'm currently swatching the pattern in Knitpicks Alpaca Cloud and having grave doubts about using anything even slightly fuzzy for it. The stitch pattern doesn't really show up.

New here, but I had to comment that we use altar cloths, too, in Eastern Orthodox Christian practice. We have home altars of icons, incense burners, lamps or candles (or both), holy water, and some other stuff, and we're supposed to drape the icons with doilies (helps with dust) or have one on the table or shelf.

Isn't that neat--all that time and distance in our faiths, and yet we are so similar. We have prayer ropes and constant meditative prayer, too. That's cool!

In Gathering of Lace there is a description of string blocking that I believe they call Russian Blocking. Just make sure that you run the strings through before you wet the lace! I used it on two shawl and a scarf recently with wonderful results.

I'm also wondering where you got your Daruma doll, as I've been doing some looking for one myself. Any suggestions?

string works, but blocking wires work well. i've read somewhere (don't ask me, my brain is wedding-fried (can't sleep, flowers will eat me)) that welding wire works well, and is a damned sight cheaper than real blocking wires. i'm assuming there's a stainless version of some sort, so your lace doesn't rust. give it a shot. and it looks very nice.

I love the polychrome buddha. Wish I could find one like that. I had the same problem blocking a long long table runner. I will try reblocking using the string. I made a little scarf for my office buddha.

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